Euthymic bipolar disorder (euBD) patients exhibit deficits in neurocognitive and social cognitive functioning compared to healthy controls (HCs). Our prior research has shown that the excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) imbalance in the default mode network (DMN) is linked to executive function in euBD. Neurocognitive impairments are associated with social cognition deficits in individuals with mental disorders. Given this connection, this study posits E/I imbalance within the DMN is associated with social cognition, with executive function as a mediator.

Seventy-five HCs and 49 euBD individuals were recruited. Using the emotion recognition task, Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2-Taiwan version (DANVA-2-TW) and cognitive flexibility task, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), we assessed emotion recognition and prefrontal function. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) measured metabolites in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex (mPFC/ACC), quantifying excitatory glutamate+glutamine (Glx) and inhibitory GABA to calculate the E/I ratio.

euBD patients showed poorer emotion recognition (p = 0.020) and poorer cognitive flexibility (fewer WCST categories completed, p = 0.002). A negative association was found between emotion recognition and the E/I ratio in the mPFC/ACC of the BD patients (r = −0.30, p = 0.034), which was significantly mediated by cognitive flexibility (Z = −2.657, p = 0.007).

The BD patients demonstrate deficits in emotion recognition, linked to an altered E/I balance in the prefrontal cortex, and the cognitive flexibility, a key aspect of executive function, mediates the impact of the E/I ratio on emotion recognition accuracy in euBD patients.

Perimenopausal women often experience physiological and psychological decline due to the effects of oestrogen fluctuations and the decline of ovarian function, leading to significantly increased depression rates, decreases in the quality of life and mental health issues. Studies have shown that the gut microbiota exerts anti-perimenopausal depression (PMD) effects via the microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) axis, the mechanisms of which may be related to inflammation. In this review, we discuss the effects and mechanisms of gut microbiota in PMD and provide new insights for future PMD treatment.

This review elaborates on the role of MGB axis in PMD from different aspects of inflammation, including gut microbiota metabolites, inflammatory signaling pathways, and clinical applications.

Disorders of gut microbiota and decreased levels of gut microbiota metabolites (short-chain fatty acids, monoamine neurotransmitters) may cause PMD. The mechanism of intestinal microbiota-mediated inflammation may be related to TLR4/NF-κB pathway, NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome pathway and JAK-STAT pathway. At the same time, it was found that gut microbiota (probiotics, prebiotics, etc.) had good therapeutic potential in the treatment of PMD.

MGB axis mediated inflammation may play an important role in PMD. The application of gut microbiota in the treatment of PMD patients has profound clinical transformation value, but a lot of efforts are still needed.

Patient involvement enhances transparency, legitimacy, and responsiveness in pharmaceutical reimbursement decisions. Guided by the mosaic model, this study recognizes effective patient engagement requires diverse context-specific approaches. Despite Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) implementing policies, gaps remain between intent and practice. This study evaluates NHIA’s incorporation of patient inputs into reimbursement decisions and examines factors influencing involvement.

We analyzed pharmaceutical company-initiated reimbursement submissions for catastrophic illnesses reviewed by the Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Scheme Joint Committee (PBRS) from 2016 to 2023. Data sources included PBRS meeting records, the Online Patient Opinion Platform (OPOP), and NHIA notification E-mails. Generalized linear models identified predictors of patient involvement. The association between patient involvement and PBRS decisions was also explored.

Patient involvement occurred in 28.4 percent (80/282) of all submissions, increasing from 17 percent (2016) to 44 percent (2023). Despite aligning with OPOP criteria, patient involvement remained incomplete. Discussion-type submissions, oncology drugs, and new drug applications showed higher involvement, whereas autoimmune diseases and new indication submissions had lower involvement. Budget impact and innovation categories were not significant predictors in adjusted models. The presence of patient involvement was not significantly associated with the PBRS approval rate. Ad hoc analysis revealed increased involvement for new indications following policy expansion.

Despite NHIA’s efforts, patient involvement implementation remains suboptimal. Structured mechanisms and expanded patient involvement beyond high-profile submissions and PBRS are crucial to broaden patient involvement. This study provides practical insights for East Asian healthcare systems advancing patient involvement amid limited empirical research.

Recent studies have increasingly utilized gradient metrics to investigate the spatial transitions of brain organization, enabling the conversion of macroscale brain features into low-dimensional manifold representations. However, it remains unclear whether alterations exist in the cortical morphometric similarity (MS) network gradient in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). This study aims to examine potential differences in the principal MS gradient between individuals with SCZ and healthy controls and to explore how these differences relate to transcriptional profiles and clinical phenomenology.

MS network was constructed in this study, and its gradient of the network was computed in 203 patients with SCZ and 201 healthy controls, who shared the same demographics in terms of age and gender. To examine irregularities in the MS network gradient, between-group comparisons were carried out, and partial least squares regression analysis was used to study the relationships between the MS network gradient-based variations in SCZ, and gene expression patterns and clinical phenotype.

In contrast to healthy controls, the principal MS gradient of patients with SCZ was primarily significantly lower in sensorimotor areas, and higher in more areas. In addition, the aberrant gradient pattern was spatially linked with the genes enriched for neurobiologically significant pathways and preferential expression in various brain regions and cortical layers. Furthermore, there were strong positive connections between the principal MS gradient and the symptomatologic score in SCZ.

These findings showed changes in the principal MS network gradient in SCZ and offered potential molecular explanations for the structural changes underpinning SCZ.

Suicidal ideation (SI) is very common in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, its neural mechanisms remain unclear. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) region may be associated with SI in MDD patients. This study aimed to elucidate the neural mechanisms of SI in MDD patients by analyzing changes in gray matter volume (GMV) in brain structures in the ACC region, which has not been adequately studied to date.

According to the REST-meta-MDD project, this study subjects consisted of 235 healthy controls and 246 MDD patients, including 123 MDD patients with and 123 without SI, and their structural magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) was used to assess depressive symptoms. Correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to determine whether there was a correlation between GMV of ACC and SI in MDD patients.

MDD patients with SI had higher HAMD scores and greater GMV in bilateral ACC compared to MDD patients without SI (all p < 0.001). GMV of bilateral ACC was positively correlated with SI in MDD patients and entered the regression equation in the subsequent logistic regression analysis.

Our findings suggest that GMV of ACC may be associated with SI in patients with MDD and is a sensitive biomarker of SI.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most prevalent malignant tumor in China. This study aimed to compare the cost effectiveness of combined nivolumab and ipilimumab with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for advanced NSCLC. The findings will contribute to the economic evidence for making clinical and health policy decisions.

Taking a healthcare system perspective, this study used a partitioned survival analysis model to simulate the disease trajectory of advanced NSCLC during first-line treatment over a model cycle of three weeks. The simulation extended over a span of 12 years. A five percent discount was incorporated for both costs and health outcomes. Published clinical efficacy and cost data were extracted from the CheckMate 9LA study (NCT03215706) and drug pricing information was gathered from the YaoZhi website. Utility values were derived from 13 tertiary hospitals in five provinces of China. Base case and sensitivity analyses were also conducted.

The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab resulted in a lifetime cost of CNY850,068 (USD119,127) and 1.796 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), whereas chemotherapy incurred a lifetime cost of CNY276,313 (USD38,722) and a gain of 1.206 QALYs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for combination therapy was CNY971,955 (USD136,208) per QALY gained, which was more than three times the average gross domestic product per capita in China (CNY85,698 [USD12,010] in 2022) and indicated that the therapy was not cost effective. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the likelihood of nivolumab plus ipilimumab being cost effective, compared with chemotherapy, was 0.02.

Nivolumab plus ipilimumab demonstrated enhanced health outcomes for patients with advanced NSCLC, compared with standard chemotherapy, but the ICER exceeded the acceptable threshold, suggesting that the treatment is not cost effective.

Ultrasonic scalpels are widely used in urological surgery. Although portable ultrasonic scalpels are convenient to use and install, the existing evidence on their safety and effectiveness is scarce. This study aimed to compare the safety and effectiveness of portable ultrasonic scalpels in urological surgery with traditional ultrasonic scalpels to aid clinical decision-making.

A multicenter, prospective, non-randomized controlled trial was conducted from February to August 2023 in three tertiary hospitals in China. The intervention group included 90 prospectively enrolled patients undergoing urological surgery during the same period of hospitalization: 45 with portable ultrasonic scalpels and 45 with traditional scalpels. Demographic and clinical data of patients in the study were collected. Data on quality of life were obtained using the EuroQol EQ-5D-5L scale preoperatively, at discharge, and one month and three months after surgery. Descriptive analysis and a generalized linear model were used in the data analysis.

A total of 82 patients were included in the study: 39 in the intervention group and 43 in the control group. The average hospital stay and intraoperative and postoperative blood loss in the intervention group were lower than in the control group (p>0.05). From baseline to discharge, the decrease in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) in the intervention group was smaller (–0.134 versus –0.287; p<0.05) than in the control group. During the follow-up period, there were no significant differences in the changes in QALYs between the two groups. The decline in QALYs was significantly influenced by variables such as intraoperative blood loss and surgical site.

There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics or changes in QALYs between the intervention and control groups. Portable ultrasonic scalpels in urological surgery may be as equally effective as traditional scalpels with respect to clinical outcomes, with additional benefits in reducing QALY decline at discharge. Further research with large samples and long-term follow-up should be conducted.

We developed a real-world evidence (RWE) based Markov model to project the 10-year cost of care for patients with depression from the public payer’s perspective to inform early policy and resource planning in Hong Kong.

The model considered treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and development of comorbidities along the disease course. The outcomes included costs for all-cause and psychiatric care. From our territory-wide electronic medical records, we identified 25,190 patients with newly diagnosed depression during the period from 2014 to 2016, with follow-up until December 2020 for real-world time-to-event patterns. Costs and time varying transition inputs were derived using negative binomial and parametric survival modeling. The model is available as a closed cohort, which studies a fixed cohort of incident patients, or an open cohort that introduces new patients every year. Utilities values and the number of incident cases per year were derived from published sources.

There were 9,217 new patients with depression in 2023. Our closed cohort model projected that the cumulative cost of all-cause and psychiatric care for these patients would reach USD309 million and USD58 million by 2032, respectively. In our open cohort model, 55,849 to 57,896 active prevalent cases would cost more than USD322 million and USD61 million annually in all-cause and psychiatric care, respectively. Although less than 20 percent of patients would develop TRD or its associated comorbidities, they contribute 31 to 54 percent of the costs. The key cost drivers were the number of annual incident cases and the probability of developing TRD and associated comorbidities and of becoming a low-intensity service user. These factors are relevant to early disease stages.

A small proportion of patients with depression develop TRD, but they contribute to a high proportion of the care costs. Our projection also demonstrates the application of RWE to model the long-term costs of care, which can aid policymakers in anticipating foreseeable burden and undertaking budget planning to prepare for future care needs.

Congenital heart disease (CHD), the most common congenital malformation affecting fetuses and infants, poses a significant and rapidly emerging global challenge in children’s health. Prenatal and newborn screening are very important for preventing CHD. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the status and corresponding foci of articles on CHD screening in the Chinese or English language using bibliometric methods.

Publications on prenatal or newborn screening for CHD were included. The Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched to identify literature published from inception to 31 March 2023. CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis on the number of publications, institutions, authors, and keywords to generate corresponding knowledge maps.

A total of 582 publications were retrieved from the WoS and 233 from the CNKI databases. There was an increasing trend in the number of English and Chinese articles published, with the trend beginning in 2010 for Chinese language articles and in 2007 for English language articles. In English language publications, GR Martin was the most influential author, and the top five institutions were from high-income countries. Among the Chinese language publications, Wenhong Ding was the most influential author and the Hunan Province Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital was the most commonly reported institution. Keyword analysis revealed that the most frequently occurring terms in both language publications were as follows: antenatal diagnosis, cardiac auscultation, and fetal echocardiography in English language articles and screening, prenatal screening, and fetal in Chinese language publications.

Increasingly, articles on CHD screening have been listed in the WoS and CNKI databases. This bibliometric study provides the status and trends in the research on screening for CHD and may help researchers identify hot topics and explore new research directions in this field.